Victoria Garcia is a Filipino-Australian artist and textile designer based in Sydney. Through drawing, textile design and interactive installations, Garcia creates heavily patterned, immersive environments which both question and reenact her Filipino Australian identity, narratives of colonialism, and her deep connection to the landscape. Garcia has been commissioned by major brands and companies including Warner Brothers Productions, Microsoft and Sass and Bide, and has produced large-scale public artworks for Wollongong Central and Ambush Gallery (2017), Broadway Shopping Centre (2016) and Oxford Art Factory (2013). In 2017 Garcia was awarded the Southlands Breakthrough Emerging Artist Award from Penrith Performing and Visual Arts and a Summer Studio Residency with Penrith Regional Gallery. Her work has been featured in 'PATTERNBOX' curated by The Textile Art Centre New York, and published by Princeton Architectural Press.

With a strong background in design and visual art, she works across fashion textiles and illustration, homewares, interiors, and costume/film. Victoria’s approach to art and design has been heavily influenced by her illustrative work and she specializes in creating hand drawn imagery and pattern.

She is currently represented by illustration agency International Rescue.

ARTIST STATEMENT:

' Everything is delicately connected ' - Jenny Holzer

“I grew up in the small Sydney suburb of Leumeah and had a unique childhood immersed in the Australian bushland. Not fully ‘Australian’, yet separated from what is culturally familiar, as a first-generation immigrant I’ve always wrestled with the frustratingly abstract notions of identity and place. Returning to the Philippines on multiple occasions, I found a culture that was both familiar and distant - which like Australia, has diverse indigenous groups and a history of colonisation by (by Britain, and Spanish and America respectively). I find the complexities of these histories and experiences - seeming to belong everywhere and nowhere - inexplicable and fascinating. As a result, and perhaps influenced by my background and formative experiences, I feel an affinity with indigenous and nomadic cultures. I am strongly drawn to nature, where I find solace identity and spirituality. “

2013 - Recipient of the Australia Council for the Arts Artstart GrantThis grant awards $10 000 to emerging artists at the start of their career.

2011 - The Sir William Dobell Foundation Award for DrawingThe Sir William Dobell Art Foundation wishes to encourage excellence in drawing and draughtsmanship.This prize was awarded by the Foundation and the UNSW College of Fine Arts.